Duffield railway station

Duffield railway station serves the village of Duffield in Derbyshire, England. The station is located on the Midland Main Line from Derby to Leeds, 133 miles 8 chains (214.2 km) north of London St Pancras. It is also a junction with the former branch line to Wirksworth, which has now been reopened as the Ecclesbourne Valley heritage railway.

Duffield
Duffield railway station looking south in 2009
LocationDuffield, Borough of Amber Valley
England
Grid referenceSK345435
Managed byEast Midlands Railway
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeDFI
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companyNorth Midland Railway
Pre-groupingMidland Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1841opened
1867moved to junction with Wirksworth branch
Passengers
2015/16 61,290
2016/17 69,870
2017/18 74,300
2018/19 68,770
2019/20 77,568
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The unmanned station is served by East Midlands Railway, who operate local services from Derby to Matlock via the Derwent Valley Line. For journeys beginning at Duffield, the full range of tickets for travel for any destination in the country are purchased from the guard on the train at no extra cost. It is a penalty fare station however, so for East Midlands Railway a permit to travel must be bought from the machine installed on the Derby-bound side of the platform before joining the train.

Services are approximately hourly on weekdays & Saturdays and two-hourly on Sundays. Most southbound services continue through to Long Eaton, Nottingham and (except Sundays) Newark Castle.[1]

East Midlands Railway Mainline services from Leeds, Sheffield and London run through at high speed, but do not stop. Interchange with Mainline services can be made at Derby.

Services are formed using diesel multiple units of Classes 153, 156 or 158. The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway operates from platform 3 using trains of various vintage.

'Jubilee' Class 4-6-0 'Leander' passing through Duffield in 1957

History

From Derby, the railway proceeds along the broad flood plain of the River Derwent, passing Little Eaton Junction, where the Midland Railway later built a branch near one of the oldest lines in the country, the Little Eaton Gangway.

The first station at Duffield was built in 1841, a year after the line opened, by the North Midland Railway a few yards further north from its present position.

From 1840 there had been a number of proposals for a line from Manchester down the Churnet Valley to meet either the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway or the Midland Counties Railway, to go on to London. An amendment was put forward in 1844 bringing the line to the North Midland at Duffield, presumably via Ashbourne and the Ecclesbourne Valley. However, the line never materialised.

The Midland Railway, however, was looking for a path into Manchester, as an alternative to the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway from Ambergate to Rowsley which it leased jointly with the LNWR. It built a junction at Duffield which opened as far as Wirksworth in 1867.[2] Gaining sole control of the Ambergate line in 1871, the extension proved unnecessary. However, the Wirksworth branch (nowadays known as the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway) remained a busy line, with a regular passenger service and freight in the form of limestone from Wirksworth and milk from the farms along the line.

Accordingly, in 1867 a large new station was built in the vee of the junction, with platforms on each side of the double track. A signal box was provided to the east of the main line, replaced by Duffield Junction box around 1890 at the south end of Platform One. By this time the population of Duffield had increased with railway workers and management, as had traffic on the main line. In 1897 a goods line was laid in the up (southbound) direction, and a fourth, down goods, laid in 1904.

There were two platforms with a footbridge, the second being an island between the two passenger lines, and another for the branch. The two subsidiary platforms each had a waiting room, while the main platform building contained the waiting room, ticket and luggage offices. Next to the footbridge was a separate W.H.Smith bookstall. The station master's house was separate, being beside the track to the north, and there was small luggage store just outside the gate. The Wirksworth line having severed the main road, which had been diverted, a footbridge gave access across the line. To the north of the station, there was wide level crossing which, besides allowing luggage trolleys to cross, gave access for the farmer who owned the adjacent land. Next to this was a footbridge from the front of the station to the field behind, and between them two signal posts, with, until 1910 a Duffield Station signal box, supplementing Duffield Junction.

The line saw several historic moments, with new or experimental vehicles from Derby being tested on the line, such as "Number 10000", the first mainline LMS diesel-electric locomotive, which was tested on the line in late 1947. Subsequently, the Wirksworth branch saw Derby's first experiments with diesel railcars. The main line saw some initial test runs of the Advanced Passenger Train and, towards Derby, a length of experimental slip-paved concrete track was installed in the 70's. This can still be seen in the up line cess.

The station changed little over the years. In 1947 the signal posts were replaced with a fabricated steel gantry and upper-quadrant signals Some time later the passenger footbridge was rebuilt in brick, using the existing walkway. This is the only remaining part of the station after the buildings were removed in 1969, except for the station master's house, now a private residence, and the small luggage store which was just outside the gate. However these latter have now gone, the station master's house replaced by a modern construction, and the luggage store destroyed by the developer who has also built on the former right of way between the branch and main line platforms.

North of Duffield the main line passes under 'The Chevin' (aka Firestone Hill) through the Milford Tunnel.

In July 2005 the station was adopted by WyvernRail plc under a scheme promoted by the Friends of the Derwent Valley Line. WyvernRail undertook to provide care and maintenance of Duffield railway station on behalf of Central Trains who operated the station at that time (and continue to under East Midlands Trains).[3]

Duffield station as it was
  • Duffield Station approaching down Station Approach.
  • Duffield Station booking office with accommodation crossing gate
  • Duffield Station Platform One waiting room with W.H.Smith bookstall behind
  • Duffield Station view south from accommodation footbridge
  • Duffield Station luggage shed by entrance gate
  • Duffield Station waiting room on platform two.
  • Duffield Station island platform rear view
  • Duffield Station waiting room on Wirksworth platform
  • Duffield Station accommodation bridge to field behind station
  • Duffield Station bridge detail

Platform 3
A view of Duffield station in April 2011 showing the branch platform used by the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. On the left is a steam train recently arrived from Wirksworth, whilst on the right is an East Midlands Trains service to Matlock. At this date there was no physical connection between the EVR and the National Network here.

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway runs from Duffield station Platform 3 to Ravenstor via Hazelwood, Shottle, Idridgehay and Wirksworth[4] along the route of the old Midland Railway branch which closed to passengers in 1947 and goods in 1989.

This link was finally re-opened to passengers again in April 2011, allowing heritage services from Wirksworth to connect with the Midland Main Line. Through ticketing is available from all main line stations.[5]

References
  1. GB National Rail Timetable 2015-16, Table 56 (Network Rail)
  2. Sprenger, Howard (2004). The Wirksworth Branch. London: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-625-6.
  3. "Duffield Scene Edition 153" (PDF). July 2005. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  4. "Duffield Station". www.e-v-r.com. Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (Wyvernrail PLC). Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  5. "Royal opening of Duffield line". Rail.co. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  • Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing
Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
East Midlands Railway
Derwent Valley Line
Historical railways
TerminusMidland Railway
Line open, station closed
  Heritage railways
Terminus   Ecclesbourne Valley Railway   Shottle

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